jon abbey:
why do you never ever talk about Harden’s defense, or lack thereof?

Because I can’t quantify it, and you sure as hell haven’t seen enough of it to make any substantial claim about it. Even if Synergy says that he’s not very good, I don’t really care: Synergy attributes something like 30-35% of defensive plays to team defense, a figure conveniently disregarded by the posters on this board.

Defense – Plays

What happened to the other play types? – We do not attach an individual defender on offensive rebounds, cuts or transition plays as these are team defense concepts and fault/credit usually cannot be attributed to one person.

This is supposed to be scientific?

nicos: Serious question- why value pps over TS% (Martin .622 vs. .603 for Harden) or more importantly ppp.Martin is 7th in the league in ppp at 1.12, Harden is 31st at 1.04.If usage doesn’t matter and shot creation is a myth, isn’t Martin having a better scoring season than Harden?

Usage DOES matter. I would much rather have a player who scores 30 a night on 60 TS% than 10 a night at 70%. (I’d rather have both, quite honestly.) The fact is that if you have someone like last year’s Carmelo Anthony, who has an abnormally high usage and mediocre shooting efficiency, unless he’s demonstrably “creating” shots for other teams (like in a way that you can point to and say CARMELO ABSOLUTELY MADE THAT TEAMMATE’S SHOT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LIKELY TO GO IN, which is a rare occurrence) he’s not really adding much value to the team.

Given Harden’s insane combination of usage, efficiency, and position (SG is not a very productive position in the current NBA, hence Jason Kidd’s dominance according to WP), he’s one of the best players in the league, even now. Is he as efficient as he was last year? No. But I would take him on the Knicks in a heartbeat, if only to put Kidd at PG and get Felton anywhere but on the court.

Who said usage doesn’t matter?

iserp: No one said that Kevin Martin was better than James Harden. I think everyone regards Harden as a star, even if he has flaws. What most people said about the trade is that James Harden’s efficiency would go down (and it has) and Kevin Martin’s efficiency would go up (and it has). So please, DON’T MANIPULATE what other people have said in this blog.

Thank you Iserp, that was exactly my point all along. You’ll notice that the Thunder haven’t exactly gotten worse even though James Harden was supposed to be their best player this year.

On another note, I couldn’t be happier to see James Harden tearing up the league, although he has become an absolutely atrocious defender. I’m also worried about how the Rockets super fast pace will translate in the playoffs, which at this point it seems they are going to make.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: We all knew they were going to come down to earth. All of us except ruruland and Juany8, the latter of which not yet having acknowledged that James Harden is scoring more points per shot than Kevin Martin despite shooting 7 more FG per 48.

No one said that Kevin Martin was better than James Harden. I think everyone regards Harden as a star, even if he has flaws. What most people said about the trade is that James Harden’s efficiency would go down (and it has) and Kevin Martin’s efficiency would go up (and it has). So please, DON’T MANIPULATE what other people have said in this blog.

nicos: I honestly would like to know what he feels pps tells you that TS% doesn’t- he’s brought pps up a few times this year.And if he really wants to talk about efficiency, why not use ppp as it factors in turnovers.I know he was trolling (though just mildly in this case) but I figured he might answer the question.I’d also note that while Harden has been great, his efficiency has taken a pretty substantial dip from .660 to .603 while Martin’s is 26 points above his career average.

Yeah, I know. pps was used only because Harden’s pps is higher than ts % because of his insanely high ft%.

pps is obviously a much worse statistic than ts % or ppp. It’s about equal to fg %.

ruruland: Or we going to pretend the troll is going to honestly attempt to answer this question?

I honestly would like to know what he feels pps tells you that TS% doesn’t- he’s brought pps up a few times this year. And if he really wants to talk about efficiency, why not use ppp as it factors in turnovers. I know he was trolling (though just mildly in this case) but I figured he might answer the question. I’d also note that while Harden has been great, his efficiency has taken a pretty substantial dip from .660 to .603 while Martin’s is 26 points above his career average.

nicos: Serious question- why value pps over TS% (Martin .622 vs. .603 for Harden) or more importantly ppp.Martin is 7th in the league in ppp at 1.12, Harden is 31st at 1.04.If usage doesn’t matter and shot creation is a myth, isn’t Martin having a better scoring season than Harden?

Or we going to pretend the troll is going to honestly attempt to answer this question?

The Honorable Cock Jowles: But Al, do you remember when Kidd was shooting .780 TS% and Carmelo was like, 50% on threes? We all knew they were going to come down to earth. All of us except ruruland and Juany8, the latter of which not yet having acknowledged that James Harden is scoring more points per shot than Kevin Martin despite shooting 7 more FG per 48.

Is there a point you’re trying to make somewhere in there, or have you once again pretended to forget what I’ve typed about Harden and the Knicks 3 pt shooting?

Not worth a second more of my time, nor should the troll be to any of you.